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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Smelling fear

From a reader:

Nervous people have sweat that contains pheromones which in neurotypical people activate regions of the brain responsible for empathy.

One psychopath interviewed by Hare's team said quite frankly: "The first thing I do is I size you up. I look for an angle, an edge, figure out what you need and give it to you. Then it's pay-back time, with interest. I tighten the screws." Another psychopath admitted that he never targeted attractive women - he was only interested in those who were insecure and lonely. He claimed he could smell a needy person "the way a pig smells truffles."

I once noticed that I could smell some girls when I walked behind them or when they walked past me and they usually have a similar scent. Nobody else could relate to me about this. A year later, I decided to walk behind a very shy girl that was attracted to me and smell her. She had this scent, and I immediately felt like devouring her, something like having sex with her or beating her, which have a similar feel. I don't understand the sexual appeal of intercourse and my entire sexuality is based off of scents and tastes.

I have a fairly even mixture of factor 1 and 2 traits but I am by no means a "primary psychopath" because I tend to be more anxious than the average person. I'm not hotheaded like "secondary psychopaths" are said to be, but rather, I set a grandiose goal for myself (#1), so I have to watch what I say. I definitely don't have the trait "callous and lack of empathy" and I get a certain feeling when someone is crying or when there is sad music playing. It's like sadness, but it's shallow, neutral, and only momentary. Anxiety and empathy both function through connections from the amygdala to regions of the frontal lobe, I think that maybe this is intact in me but some area of morality isn't since I have shallow emotions and a lack of morality.

The primary psychopath has many brain abnormalities but mine is probably quite intact, I wouldn't think that something as peculiar as pheromone hypersensitivity would happen in my brain. But it appears to exist. Have you encountered the smelling phenomenon?

M.E.: I don't think I've noticed the smell thing, but there are certain people that I suddenly feel like violating. It does generally tend to be people who have a certain vulnerability to them, typically women although not exclusively. I wonder if that has something to do with smelling them? It doesn't seem farfetched, as some people say that sociopaths are supposed to have super sensitivities, like other people on the autism spectrum. although i'm pretty impressed with your talent.

Yah when you don't get off you start to go insane. I can imagine this nutter going around person to person sniffing them. What reactions does this psuedo werewolf get from the general public? He must be a real piece of work, this one.

Spotting vulnerable people is easy and fun, you dont need to give them the world for them to like you just some sympathetic words, like a puppy, you start petting it, then you can beat it to death, the next day it will be there waiting happily for you to pet it again, they really do have alot in common with dogs, are obedient, most are afraid of rejection, i like dogs

I believe that there is a combination of smell and micro body language that operate at an unconscious level. Interpreting them was programmed into us across millions of years, to survive and procreate. We talk in terms of “sensing” that someone is afraid and or attracted to us and I believe this is literally true. Dogs' primary sense is smell, followed by hearing and, lastly, by sight. Our smell may not be as acute or concious but it is there.

Gaddafi won't get killed by the rebels, he has many many more soldiers than you think and gaddafis brother has just come out on the news saying that they let the rebels take tripoli so they could deal with them away from UN forces (if that's true, a massacre is coming) The only way I see gaddafi being killed anytime soon is by betrayel, or if NATO decides to overpower libya like they did with Iraq. BTW Gaddafi has lured enemy forces into traps so it could well be credible.

Gaddafi is only alive because he's smart, as long as he has power he survives, but power eventually wares off, it will ware off and when it does, he dies.When you are worth more dead than alive, there is always someone trying to kill you. Learn this psychopaths its a lesson i dont teach everyone.Anyway i dont know much about whats happening with Gaddafi but i know history, and it tends to repeat itself.

I wanna smell your cunttaste what i huntmark you as my targetconfess that im almost retardedhide in sight hide from my mightbefore i take you out at nightyou cant resist my fucking brain deficienciesall you care about is living happilyso many people i want to killmaybe i wont, maybe i willi wanna catch your scentcontrol your life and the presentrape you if you bendcontrol the future tooi wanna smell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting. This is my horoscope for the week that just came out today:

Of your five senses, which is the most underdeveloped? If you're a typical Westerner, it's your sense of smell. You just don't use it with the same level of acuity and interest you have when you're seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching. You may speak excitedly about an image you saw or song you heard or food you ate or massage you experienced -- what they were like, how they made you feel -- but you rarely do that with odors. You easily tolerate an ugly building or loud traffic noise or mediocre food or itchy fabric, and yet you feel a deep aversion to an unappealing smell. Having said that, I want you to know it's an excellent time to upgrade your olfactory involvement with the world. You'd benefit greatly from the emotional enrichment that would come from cultivating a more conscious relationship with aromas.

Maybe he just doesn't get out much, likes black clothes and enjoys listening to shitty death metal? And anon up there somewhere, it doesn't matter if people thInk you're a sucker. So long as they don't think you're an empathy deficient sociopath with a lack of morals.

Hmmmm..Ive often wondered if my peculiarities were mine alone or were sometimes shared by others....I too am able to use scent in ways similar to the author, though in truth Ive often wondered if it was merely a 'grandiose' aberration of my mind. Many many times I have used the scent of a woman to judge her availability, receptiveness, strength or things in those veins. Certain womens scent is completely unappealing to me, so much so that it turns me off, even if they are the hottest thing since the easter bunny. Unless the scent does it for me...I usually wont go there. No..I dont go around going sniff sniff sniff loudly...nor do i make it apparent in any way that I am 'scenting' them, as I have no wish to be 'snapped out' and caught at my own game.I am subtle, and can use any measure i wish that will place me within four feet of said woman. Curiosity, empathy, concern....I'll use them all if it achieves what I need it to. If that scent isnt there, or if it is a scent that I dont like, a wall goes up immediately, and it shuts down all aspects of the 'normal' date/sexual approach on my part. For me the 'scent' triggers a sexual response...then a 'hunt' response (though that is really just scratching the surface)...then the appropriate abilities kick in and away I go....I have learned that women with the scent I like are usually strong, willful....and often have an intellect i can connect with. Its much more of a challenge for me to manipulate/dominate or 'catch' women of that calibre than needy souls who I tend to damage very quickly. I used to put it down to a pheromone thing...but the difference in the types of women that have the scent are often extremely varied and go against an archetypal figure or a 'type'.unlike the author though, sex appeal is important for me...and the whole scent thing is definitely based around sexuality. The thing is though, that I can base my actions and responses on what I smell in that way and know that a high percentage of the time I am going to be bang on the mark (pun intended).I can also scent a mood change before I see the person ( but have to be within ten feet or so), can tell in a split second if they will reciprocate my actions, if they will accept what Im putting out there. It isnt a 'body odour' thing..as the women who have it are usually very hygienic and fastidious with their femininity and cleanliness. Perhaps it is indeed a mix of pheromones and scent...perhaps something else..I really havent taken the time to rip it apart and analyse, but I think i will now ...hahahaha. So there you go people...Ive added a wee dish of stuff to rip apart and throw around the room!.....oh..BUT ladies?...even if you wear the strongest perfume...scent or whatever..I can still pick it up. Its a base scent apon which everything else is layered. And errr..another thing...the scent changes with mood swings on the womans part. phew..as you were...

@Lycan: Yours was kind of painful to read, formatting-wise, but what I managed to skim out of it doesn't seem as fanciful. Scent is important, but the whole thing with pheromones is that you usually don't notice them.

Analogously, the correct amount of perfume or cologne to wear is next to none at all. If you can smell it on yourself, there's too much. If they can smell it on you before you're face to face (and quite close, at that), there's too much.

The attraction of scent is in its subtlety. Scent is meant to evoke unconscious reaction.

Read Perfume when it was published. Gave it to two people. One developed a habit of drugging and raping women (I didn't know him well enough to speculate about that devlopment or his personality), the other is an epic sociopath. Huge amounts of social information are stored in scent, and while most people are triggered by scent, intuitively, very few realize it.

Some still recognize where their responses originate. I am acquainted with a woman who does smell emotion, specifically fear, which she describes as acrid. It makes her uncomfortable, provokes anxiety, so she moves away from it as quickly as she can. There is nothing sociopathic about her, she is however a very successful as a nose.

Perfume was one of the stranger movies I've seen at a Hollywood caliber.

I saw enough weird shit in the eight or so episodes of 'Stan Lee's Superhumans' to make me question what is and is not possible for a human to do, and that was just a cheesy tv show. There's no proof that this kind of sensing would not be possible through some sort of mutation or brain variant, but is it sociopathic? No. Not through scent, at least.

An ability like this would be greatly advantageous if honed at a broader level, so it wouldn't surprise me too much that the people who developed this trait would thrive and multiply.

You lucky guys need to figure out how to utilize this ability for more general purpose. The possibilities are intriguing.

@TNP: It's mostly good for cooking, I expect. The greatest seductive technique there is, after all.~

Re: Stan Lee's joke of a show. Did you see the one with the Shaolin monk? They kept changing the scale by which they measured the force of his punches, so it was impossible to tell if it was actually interesting, or if it was meaningless.

Sorry about your blog! It was a strong forum. Your thoughts were distinctive and generated great discussion.

All our inormation regarding dominance and social Hierarchy is encoded in smell, most of us have simply lost the behavioral triggers. I sometimes think scent is to interaction what classical languages are to written communication; Antiquated, out of favor but underlying and essential to all.

@PMS

Springfield, of course. And all of them at once. As a post structuralist I need never commit.

PMS you are so very civilized and logical. I cannot help but wonder what becomes of that studied, meticulous character when you become animal. I find it hard to believe that you only smell of smoke, elbow patches, chalky equations, and lamb stew.

@TNP saidYou lucky guys need to figure out how to utilize this ability for more general purpose. The possibilities are intriguing.

I think you are right TNP, I really haven't ever given it much more thought until now.But having read the various comments, and noting PMS's comment about controlled experiments appeals to the part of my brain that likes a challenge. Perhaps I will indeed perform some controlled experiments, though this is far from my forte so I have no idea as yet how i will go about it. I may become completely bored with it all and just resort to making mental notes for myself for further use/action. In the spirit of the furtherance of the 'sociopath world domination program' though (hahahaha), I will endeavor to share anything of real interest I manage to dig up with you all. Who knows.....it may be fun. Righto...off I go...sniffing and snuffling my way to sociopathic nirvana.All hail the olfactory organ !!!

I caught a whiff of this 18 year old boy. He was pale white and skinny with straight muted brown hair to his shoulders. You could tell how soft his skin would be. I didn't like his sandals, but his skin smelled good enough to eat. It could have been someone else, but I believe I smelled him just when I entered the same room... either way I feel something when I smell sweat or skin, that human scent, it's so intoxicating it makes me crazy

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Of course, my default is still to intuitively analyze every outcome and situation and achieve the best result, but it's more interesting to let people remain a variable and go in their own direction, rather than nudging them in the direction I prefer. Interacting with people WITHOUT trying to control them is a new paradigm for me.